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Britain’s banking markets are among the most competitive in Europe, the boss
of Lloyds Banking Group has declared, in a stern riposte to Ed Miliband’s
proposals to break up Britain’s largest lenders.

“People confuse concentration with lack of competition,” António Horta-Osório
said at the annual Brand Finance London Banking Forum. “The fact that the
industry is concentrated has nothing to do with whether they are competitive
or not.”

Compared with his experience of working in Brazil, Portugal and Spain , Mr
Horta-Osório said he found “the UK retail [banking] market extremely
competitive”. However, he acknowledged that there was a problem in